Creative Thinkering

Our education system has been dumbed down!

In 1895 America knowing how much wheat (and how many bushels) you would be working with or how much your farm land will cost was vital information for a great many people - today, not so much.

I also wonder whether I would have passed the 8th grade if I'd answered the question on Columbus's discovery of America by noting he didn't.

I can't argue much against grammar, although it's still irrelevant for much of today's work force. People using the wrong form of "its" drive me nuts, but I recognize this as a personal pet peeve and since the context is usually an online discussion forum/blog, the impact is hardly critical. (Text message truncation (or butchering) of the language also bothers me, but that's not even a "dumbing down" phenomenon so much as a natural evolution of how we use that language within an inherently limited and minimalizing technology.)

If you look you will find people complaining over the devolution of the English language even in 1895. People will echo the same concerns in 2095, as well as those who would no doubt fail a 1995 8th grade graduation test.

Meanwhile if I need the date of "Rebellion" battles or to match a date to historical context, I have the tools to find both as well as the knowledge necessary to utilize those tools. The same goes for geography, climate, or even things which don't seem to have been as important (or as well known) in 1895 - such as psychology (the fundamentals of which would serve an individual much better in today's world than knowing the Earth's inclination).

I suppose the long story short is I'm not impressed with the knowledge base of a typical 8th grade graduate living at the turn of the 20th century, their grasp of orthography notwithstanding, and other than offering an erroneous support for the almost giddy habit some have of poo-pooing our "dumbed down" cultural ethos, I'm not sure why I should be impressed by it either.

Yes, that would be a tricky test for most 8th graders today, but it's a misleading comparison, since most 8th graders today are only about halfway through their education.

According to the data on Educational Attainment from the Current Population Survey (CPS) about 89% of 25 to 29-year-olds in the US attained a high school diploma or equivalent. In 1940 (the earliest survey available on the subject from the census bureau that I could find)the median number of years of school completed by persons 25+ years old was 8.4. [1] Considering the prevailing trend towards higher levels of educational attainment over the past several decades, it would be reasonable to guess that that median might have been even lower in the 1890s, especially for "non-whites".

So, it's a tricky test, but not that impressive considering that for many it was an exit exam.

Plus, where's the calculus? Physics? Chemistry?

[1] http://www.census.gov/hhes/socdemo/education/data/cps/1946/p10-8/p10-8.pdf

I would argue that you should look a the outcomes of this type of education. Were they productive, engaged, happy... citizens? Did that education prepare them for the realities of 'grown up' life at the time?

Are we producing productive, engaged, happy citizens now? Are our children ready for the realities of the 'grown up' world now?

I cannot say I know the answers to these questions but I can say they are all that matter.

The difficulty, content and form of the assessment is meaningless unless it is measuring/delivering your desired outcome. To be honest I am not sure we really know what the children of today need to know for their grown up lives... it may very well be fluency in Mandarin, acting lessons for more reality TV shows and would you like fries with that?

The exam is quite telling....for all the obvious points raised above.

What I find interesting is the readers' discussions about it. THAT is quite telling too.

Not to mention the cultural, linguistic, religious and other variables that have entered the field to boot.

I agree with Emathos' comments completely. What the article showed is not a "dumbing down" of today's society, but rather a shift in the types of knowledge and abilities students need in response to today's work and life demands. In our society, regurgitating grammar rules is no longer regarded as important or practical as being able to correctly use them in context. Using mathematics to calculate the partitioning of wheat is also not relevant to most of us. Today's education focuses more on helping students find the right information they need, critically evaluating the information, and integrating it to create something new. We have moved beyond rote memorization and measuring bushels to creative synthesis and measuring data downloads (though the mathematical principles behind both types of measurements remain the same). In fact, research has shown that the human population's average IQ has risen more than 10 points over the past few decades, precisely due to the increasing demands of the environment. It's simply easier to criticize the failure of our current education system and the general "dumbing down" of the people than to shift our own perspectives on what learning means in today's society.

And I would also guess that few people from 1895 could pass 8th grade tests from today. The reason? We teach different things. It could be we are teaching less now, but this test in isolation doesn't prove it. Not to mention the one major piece of missing information: how well did students in 1895 do on this test?

A lot of this test is geared toward specific material taught in a specific way. Asking "the epochs into which U.S. history is divided" is only fair if you have told the student how *you* divide U.S. history into epochs. Likewise, rules for capitalization can be written in many ways. No doubt the test is asking for the method taught in class, but today how would we know what that is? The "Fundamental rules of arithmetic", if asked today, might refer to the axioms of a field, but surely did not mean that back then, before such concepts were invented. Likewise for definitions of things like "verse". The test is clearly asking for a short memorized answer here, but how are we to know which one is being tested? The way in which "verse" is used is too varied (a line in a poem, a part of a song between repetitions of a refrain, a section of holy scripture that is smaller than a chapter, etc.)

As previous commentators have pointed out, the mathematics level of this test is below what we might expect from 8th graders today--this test requires you to do multiplication and division, and use it to convert between units of measurement. There is some compound interest but this might have been given as a formula to memorize (as it is sometimes treated today). The difficulty is mainly in knowing the conversions between all the various units of measurement, most of which today are obsolete or rare for non-farmers (bushels, rods, tares). Today, 8th graders might be expected to know about exponents, equations with variables, graphing, linear relationships between quantities, elementary statistics, names of geometric figures in the plane, and apply these to situations related to commerce, policy data, and technology. And as was pointed out before, science is missing (except the part that is in the geography section). Not surprisingly, there is no prehistory in this test, either.

In some cases, we no longer do things the same way: students here are expected to write a bank check. We use printed checks today. Perhaps a good question for today would be to have a blank check and have them fill it out. We no longer use terms like "principal parts of a verb" in our educational system--it is more likely we would ask for the past tense, gerund, etc. separately.

Finally, after writing all of this, I googled and found this snopes article. This screed has been circulating on the internet since at least 1999. This also makes me wonder if the author of this article has even verified the original to see if it really was the 8th grade exam, or if he just copied it from an email someone forwarded to him.

http://www.snopes.com/language/document/1895exam.asp

I published the exam as an historical example of what eighth graders faced in 1895. I did not purport it to be "proof" of anything. Nor do I find any personal interpretation of the test to be more telling than any other interpretation. It is my experience in life that we don't see things as they are, we see them as we are.

I'm sorry you were offended.

That's been going around for literally years in emails.

http://www.snopes.com/language/document/1895exam.asp

Are we assuming that everyone graduated 8th grade in 1895?

Many people, back then, didn't make it too far in school. (Especially the victims of child labor.)

Roughly, only 50% of the children between 5 and 19 were enrolled in school.

Therefore the question should be "Can half of you answer these questions?"

I'm tired of hearing about how "dumb" kids are today--if you believe that, you need to meet more kids.

Its not what you know, it's how you use it, and that shows your intelligence. The orders is knowledge, understanding, analysis, critical thinking, and synthesis.

Right now, in our world, there is way too much information that everyone has to parse through in every daily life that memorization of facts, understanding those facts, and even to have time to contemplate those facts is far more elusive in our fast pace society.

In fact, it is really discouraged. We are in a society where everyone wants something from you. They are all vying for your attention and we are but a tiny ship in a storm always trying stay a float among such chaos.

It's actually not that hard of a test. It may appear to be a lot of things to know, but I think all of the adults are just a bit rusty in their schooling. Which is fine. However, I remember learning these things. I only graduated from high school in 2005. This is knowledge that I remember studying for and testing on. Don't worry, the children are learning something. It's another question of whether they retain it.

Not only is the test bogus, but the version printed here is in some cases incoherent. The estimate of lumber measured in inches but charged by the (european spelling) metre, or the farm which should be measured in rods per side, not just rods, for example. Whoever submitted this test not only neglected to take time to find out its origins, but to look closely at it to see if it even made sense. This test may say something about how standards have declined, but not necessarily in the way the authors think.

I love the pathetic lewsers on here who strain every muscle and nerve fiber to somehow rationalize the fact that an 1895 8th grader was smarter than they are. They don't like it so there must be something wrong with it. Typical modern ignorami. Find an excuse for your every failing.

Clearly, there are commentators posting here that do not realize how education has changed- for the worse. In the early centuries of America, reading and maths skills were commonly taught by the parents. Many schools wouldn't allow a student to enroll if they did not already possess these skills. What we call child labor today was in many cases apprenticeship in a given field. Consider David Farragut, our first US Navy Admiral, who received his first commission at age 10, and his full command of a ship at age 12. How many students today know how to survey, or read a transit? Most youngsters today do not know what the instrument is, or what it is or can be used for. You can argue all day long about how we now have the 'technology' that does it FOR us (so we do not have to actually KNOW anything). So, does that mean that is to your benefit? When the machine with the 'brain' quits or breaks, do you have the knowledge to work without it, or to fix it?
Education was taken over, based on a Prussian model, to accomplish two objectives: 1)separate the family (which it has done a fine job of) 2)create a 'work-force', a 'human resource'. This was a well orchestrated process pushed by psychologists and industrialists, based on a 'scientific' method, to mold the population in such a way as to have 5% controlling a 95% labor force, and it was done to support business. These 'masters' could not afford to have such an enterprising population competing with their own goals- so, yes, there has been a deliberate 'dumbing-down' of the public. Also, bear in mind that there are now only 2 main sources of all school books, which have been monopolizing what information is made available, for quite some time.
In order to mold a population, one must control the minds of the children, and what better way to do this than forcibly requiring 'institutionalized' education? Parental control of their own offspring was removed, there were book burnings essentially assuring that 'certain' information was destroyed, etc. Prior to all this, people had immense opportunities to learn at whatever pace suited them- WITHOUT government interference. Some of the most brilliant people of our history emerged from that time...Ben Franklin,George Washington,Thomas Edison, etc.,etc. Most had a few years(2 or 3)of formal education.
If one is going to present argument as to whether there has been a 'dumbing-down', or whether information even becomes 'obsolete'(due to our so-called advanced technology),perhaps one need familiarize themselves with the actual history of education first. A good place to start is John Taylor Gatto's book,"The Underground History of American Education" (which also touches on other areas of the world on this matter).
There has been a prolonging of childhood going on, as well. All of what has happened in the past 150+ yrs. has been deliberately done, whether one wants to accept that or not. So please, familiarize yourselves with the history of education before you try to defend what so many today seem to think is 'brilliant' education, and expound how yesterdays knowledge was inferior and no longer needed or applicable today. When you finally realize that what has happened was to produce an unquestioning work-force, free of family 'interference and misguidance', you might look upon what has happened to education in a more well-rounded way.
The matter of what has happened to education goes a lot deeper than the 1895 test, which, btw, was an actual standard test from Salina, Kansas.It was taken from the original document on file at the Smoky Valley Genealogical Society and Library in Salina, Kansas and reprinted by the Salina Journal. You can verify the validity of the test by calling Mary McIntyre at the Smoky Valley Genealogical Society & Library, 785-825-4624 (got that info from a query to the Salina newspaper). Ms. McIntyre can assure that the test was fact, not fiction, and that it had been written by J. W. Armstrong, the superintendent of Salina County schools in 1895. They aslo have on file a record of who took the test, and their scores. (Just so you know, snopes.com is not the authority one assumes it to be; there are many who have contested their 'facts', and found them to be faulty, and misleading).
Most importantly, the standards of an 8th grade education today are not at all what they were in 1895. Contrary to what most have been taught, MOST people, including slaves, WERE literate- it was universal at that time. Even 25 yrs. after the 1895 test,in 1920, American soldiers had a 98% literacy proficiency. 2% tested to join the armed forces were illiterate. By 1970, 30% tested to join the armed forces were illiterate(source: National Adult Literary Survey and many other credible sources).
What is in place today, as far as educating the public, would have us believe that we are the most educated ever, and the people of the Iron Age were barely out of caves and knew nothing- everything discovered by chance. Take a trip to Europe, visit the anthropological museums and you may find out otherwise.I hope those discussing this will take the time to really examine our educational history before posting - you may find our ancestors were not at all the ignorant lot expounded by those who wish us to believe we are superior.